Regent Homes has completed two condo buildings in Westhaven, the master-planned golf community in suburban Franklin, and is constructing a third. / submitted

Written by

Bill Lewis

For The Tennessean

Nashville’s suburbs may be the land of traditional single-family houses with individual yards, but that landscape is changing. Some of the region’s most ambitious and innovative condominium developments are taking shape far from the city.

That’s good news for homebuyers like Dolly Kelly, a single mom who wanted the lock-and-leave lifestyle of a condo but didn’t want to move away from the Williamson County neighborhood where she has lived for years.

Kelly purchased a condo built by Regent Homes in Westhaven, the master-planned golf community in suburban Franklin. The company has completed two condo buildings in the subdivision and is constructing a third.

“I enjoy the maintenance-free aspect and staying in a neighborhood I love, a neighborhood where I can get out and walk,” said Kelly, who has owned two other Westhaven homes.

As the region’s population ages, she believes buying a condo should prove to be a financially sound decision if she ever decides to sell.

“Baby boomers are getting to retirement age. A one-level, maintenance-free condo is a good investment for me,” said Kelly.

Selling fast

North of Nashville, Goodall Homes is experiencing huge demand for condos it is building at Foxland Harbor and Fairvue Plantation, two master-planned golf communities on Old Hickory Lake in Gallatin.

“They go quickly. They’re generally sold before we can roll them out the door,” Goodall Realtor Todd Reynolds said of Foxland, where the company will build at least 72 villas in two-unit buildings.

In Fairvue, where Goodall is building 130 condos, many buyers are planning ahead and adding an optional bonus room.

“It gives people an option if they have to have a caretaker come in” as they age and need daily assistance, said Reynolds.

Many of Goodall’s customers are downsizers moving from a larger home in the region. Growing numbers of people, though, are moving from locations outside Tennessee.

“Many of them are ‘halfbacks,’ ” said Reynolds. “They move from Chicago to Florida and move halfway back.”

They don’t want another single-family house, but they want to live in the suburbs, he said.

“You get the golf course and the lake” at both Foxland and Fairvue, said Reynolds. “You have a destination neighborhood, and you have affordability.

Goodall’s condos at Fairvue are exactly like those the company built at Cottage Grove, a condo development in the Nashville suburb of Goodlettsville. That development is almost completely sold out.

'Micro living'

Regent Homes President David McGowan said many suburban condo buyers are engaging in what he calls “micro living.”

Regent has a waiting list for the condos it is building in Westhaven. The company is also building condos in Berry Farms, the new master-planned community along I-65 on the south side of Franklin. The 600-acre development will include homes and apartments, office space and shopping.

Regent’s Berry Farms condos will be priced from around $150,000 to $190,000, which McGowan said is amazingly affordable for new construction in Williamson County. The first building will have 21 units.

In Lenox Village, the suburban community along Nolensville Road south of Nashville where Regent has built 500 condos, the company is constructing 185 new units. They are being built as apartments, but McGowan said they could easily be converted to condos.

“A lot of people coming out of college want to own instead of renting,” he said.

Closer to downtown Nashville, Kevin Hackney, a Realtor with Benchmark Realty, sees strong demand for condos along West End Avenue between I-440 and Saint Thomas Hospital. Many buyers are unable to purchase in the Gulch district.

“Because the Gulch is so expensive and not available, they’re pushing into here,” he said of the West End corridor.

Condo buyers don’t fit any particular stereotype, said Hackney. His clients are “a mix, 20-somethings to people in their 90s.”